Security mess another example of no leadership

Where we stand

January 6, 2013

It seems to us that some sort of investigation is in order relative to what appears to be the latest federal spending mess.

This is a story that to some significant degree has flown under most medias' radar, for reasons we don't understand.

At issue, though, is the security of at least one segment of the nation's nuclear weapons research apparatus.

For readers who aren't aware, the issue is centered on the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, a historic site where much nuclear research continues to take place.

After a study some years ago identified a series of problems with the facility's security system, the federal government started paying for an upgrade.

So far, so good, right? Regrettably, wrong.

To date, according to the federal government's own internal reviews, some $214 million has been spent. And for reasons that remain unclear, the system still doesn't work properly.

At last glance, Uncle Sam is now saying it will take another six months and an additional $41 million to make the system functional.

As we see it, there are two basic problems with all of this. First, the country has long passed the point where it can waste money by the bushel basket like it did back in the good old days. The federal debt continues to spiral with no end in sight and the country is borrowing just to pay its bills. Secondly, we, and we suspect a lot of other reasonable people, would like to know what happened here and why.

How else can the government expect to prevent further economic disasters from happening?

Heads, in the employment sense, should roll because of this and similar fiscal outrates.

That isn't usually the case in Washington, however, where untold numbers of elected leaders have made careers out of wasting the peoples' time and money.

Our great nation suffers from a lack of leadership, and this is just another example of it.